AC Repair in Forest Park, GA
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Clayton County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of real heat, every year
From May through September your air conditioner is working, and on the average summer afternoon here it is pushing against 88 degrees outside. That is a long stretch of steady, hard running, not just a few hot spikes here and there. The compressor and the condenser fan carry that load day after day, and the wear shows up as summer goes on. You notice it as the air coming from the vents turning less cold, or the unit running longer to hit the same temperature it used to reach fast.
Clayton County has also seen its share of rough weather, with 38 damaging wind events and a few hail events over the past ten years, one dropping hail over an inch across. Wind can knock debris into the outdoor unit's coil and fins, and hail can dent them, and either one cuts down how well the unit sheds heat. If your air conditioner is struggling after a storm, or just tired from a long summer, that is what is usually behind it.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 3 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 38 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $50 a year off cooling for a typical Clayton County home.
Estimates for a typical Clayton County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Georgia fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when a part like a capacitor or contactor has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the compressor has failed or the system uses R-22 refrigerant, which is no longer made.
Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Construction Industry Licensing Board tests and records HVAC contractors before they can legally take on work like this. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it travels with them from one repair to the next rather than getting issued fresh each time.
For an air conditioner repair, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work in Georgia. If the repair calls for opening the refrigerant side of the system, which most cooling repairs do, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal requirement that applies in every state on top of Georgia's license.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and blocking airflow across the coil, or the refrigerant is low from a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty filter is the easy check, it sits right in the return before the unit. If the filter is clean and air still comes out warm, the coil may be icing over from low refrigerant, and that needs a licensed contractor to find the leak and recharge it.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to run out through the drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over the summer and block it, so the water backs up and drips or pools near the indoor unit. A contractor can clear the line, and if it keeps happening the drain pan or trap may need a look too.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, then the breaker. A dead thermostat battery or a setting bumped too close to room temperature will stop the system from calling for cooling at all. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker box, since a tripped breaker will cut power to the whole unit. If the breaker keeps tripping once you reset it, stop resetting it and have a licensed contractor look at it, that usually means something electrical needs attention.